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Girl Up Inspires San Francisco Teens at Unite for Girls Tour

Levi Strauss & Co. helps Girl Up turn local teens into global leaders

San Francisco, California —
November 14, 2011

The United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign educated, motivated and engaged San Francisco teens on Saturday with the Unite for Girls Tour at the Levi Strauss & Co Headquarters. This one-of-a kind event featured a guest appearance by actress Alexandra Daddario (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief) whose support encouraged teens of all ages to get involved in Girl Up.

“Girl Up in San Francisco was an amazing experience as our Teen Advisors had the opportunity to meet and inspire local teens,” said Gina Reiss-Wilchins, Director of Girl Up. “I am thankful to Levi Strauss & Co. for their partnership and for welcoming Girl Up into their headquarters, allowing us to mobilize teen girls in San Francisco to become the next generation of global leaders!”

Traveling from country to country with “passports” in hand, San Francisco teens interacted with the Girl Up Teen Advisors to learn how girls just like them live in Ethiopia, Liberia, Guatemala and Malawi. Unique to the San Francisco stop, the Unite for Girls Tour was the first time that the 2011 Teen Advisors from all over the United States joined together to as a group to inspire other girls to make a difference.

17 year old San Francisco native Olivia Somerlyn kept the energy going when she kicked of the second half of the event by performing an original song. The auditorium was later filled with an energetic performance by Project Girls Performance Collective, and ended with an informative panel of experts that encouraged girls to have bold solutions and to be brave thinkers. The panel included Tamsin Smith of X, Denise Dunning of AGAI, Emily Corey Prior of the UN Foundation and Rocio Ortega, Girl Up Teen Advisor.

Levi Strauss & Co. showed additional support for Girl Up at the conclusion of the event by donating a “High 501,” or $5.01. This version of the Girl Up High Five combines the company’s iconic brand of jeans to support Girl Up in providing girls with access to education, health services, safety and are positioned to be the next generation of leaders.

Tweet me: I'm helping to change the lives of girls around the world. Join me and @GirlUp today!

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About Girl UpGirl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, gives American girls the opportunity to channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for programs of the United Nations that help some of the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls. Through Girl Up’s support, girls have the opportunity to become educated, healthy, safe, counted and positioned to be the next generation of leaders. Campaign supporters are encouraged to give a “High Five” to girls in developing countries by donating $5 or more to provide girls with such basic needs as access to school supplies, clean water, life-saving health services, safety from violence and more. Founding campaign partners include MTV Networks, National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, Women’s National Basketball Association, Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, Girls Inc., and 10x10. Go to GirlUp.org to learn more.

About the United Nations FoundationThe United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. We build and implement public/private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and work to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. Through our campaigns and partnerships, we connect people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. These campaigns focus on reducing child mortality, empowering women and girls, creating a new energy future, securing peace and human rights, and promoting technology innovation to improve health outcomes. These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.